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Firm description and career prospects

Russell-Cooke is a London-based law firm with around 200 highly regarded specialist solicitors and lawyers many of whom are leaders in their field. Clients come from a range of organisations, including businesses, not-for-profit organisations, regulatory bodies and individuals.

We are renowned for the high quality of our advice across a very broad range of fields, including charity and social business , family and children law, clinical negligence and personal injury, corporate and commercial, commercial litigation, commercial property, property litigation, employment, matrimonial, private client, professional regulation, tax and estate planning and trust and estate disputes.

Our approach

The reality of training contracts can often fall short of expectations. Trainee solicitors can find themselves stuck in a firm they find uncongenial, or doing jobs that bore or frustrate them. We offer you stimulating work in a friendly and well-equipped professional environment. We will also pay you well and there are annual salary reviews and an annual bonus. Our trainees are not expected to spend all their time photocopying or researching points of law (although that happens, of course).

Our aim is to give you the chance to manage your own casework and deal directly with clients, learning the practical skills of client and file management with proper support. We realise that employing trainee solicitors is very much a two-way process. So we are particularly concerned to ensure that we give you a positive and practical training. There are regular seminars for trainees and qualified solicitors. We assess you in each seat of your training and make sure that there are specific partners responsible for helping and advising you with any questions or difficulties you may have.

Who are we looking for?

On average we take on six to nine trainee solicitors a year. Our trainees often stay on after completing their training - traditionally we have a very high retention rate. You must have three good A levels. If you have graduated you must have at least an upper second-class degree (although not necessarily in law). If you are in your final year at university you should have obtained the equivalent of an upper second in any second-year exams.

You will need to thrive on responsibility and challenges and be able to exercise your own judgement. To have a positive, social nature; to be good at the practical business of advising and representing clients; to be able to work effectively with colleagues and others that you meet in the course of your work; to have high professional standards; and to have an open mind about the areas of law in which you wish to gain experience.

Your training will have a lasting influence over your legal career, so you need to think carefully about what kind of firm and what kind of work will suit you best. There are substantial advantages in working for a firm like ours which can give you the chance to gain practical experience of widely differing types of legal practice. This is particularly important if you have not yet decided which field of law you want to specialise in. There are very few law firms where, for instance, you can spend six months involved in a real estate transaction in the City, followed by six months of practising children law. Moreover good general training will make you a more rounded lawyer which will increase your range of opportunities on qualification.

Sponsorship

We provide capped sponsorship of up to £10,000 per candidate for LPC fees. We also offer an interest free loan of up to £5,000 re-payable out of a trainee’s salary over a two-year period.

Training contract programme

Trainees do four seats, often including a seat in our core area of real estate. The availability of other seats depends on the needs of different departments but in the past trainees have undertaken seats in litigation, matrimonial, charity and social business, corporate and commercial, employment, children law, private client, trust and estate disputes, property litigation and, personal injury and clinical negligence. At present seats in our criminal litigation and regulatory litigation departments are unlikely although this may change.

Merchant Taylor’s Hall in the City of London crackled with excitement on 18 May as representatives from over 60 top law firms convened to find out who would be the winners of the prestigious LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards 2017.

We are delighted to bring you details of the firms and individuals who are nominated for the 14th annual LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards. The awards will be presented at a glamorous event at Merchant Taylor’s Hall in London on 18 May.

Merchant Taylor’s Hall in the City of London was crackling with excitement as representatives from over 70 top law firms convened to find out who would be the winners of the prestigious LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards 2016.

James Myles

University of Southampton
Trainee Solicitor

Russell-Cooke trainees are given the opportunity to train in a variety of areas, engaging directly with clients from the beginning. We are given responsibility of our own matters within a supportive environment. You always feel you can ask for help!

Maeve O’Hare

University College Dublin
Associate Solicitor

Russell-Cooke offers a unique opportunity to experience how different industries and types of clients operate. The variety and high quality of work that trainees get involved in ensures you feel very well prepared for the transition from trainee to associate.

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